NEW YORK–Adam Scott was among the pro golfers who wondered if the USGA creating punishing conditions at the U.S. Open was the right thing to do, especially when “thinking about the bigger picture of the game of golf,” as he said the week before, via Golfweek.

So how did he feel about the 2017 U.S. Open, which featured a winning score of 16-under for Brooks Koepka and so many players with low scores?

“I don’t think it hurt anything,” he told For The Win at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers while promoting his new Uniqlo golfwear line. “People will probably say, it wasn’t the U.S. Open. I think it’s a little unfair to say that. I don’t think it’s hurt anything. I don’t think anything brilliant and revolutionary happened to get this kind of tournament into the spot where we always picture it. I don’t think it was a bad thing. What happened there, no controversies, everything under control is far better than having 5-over win and we don’t know if [a player has] broken a rule, none of that happened. The best player won and I think that’s good for a major.”

He noted that Erin Hills provided 60-yard-wide fairways to hit into and that some wet weather helped what could have been drier, faster conditions. And although Scott didn’t make it to the weekend — he missed the cut by shooting a 3-over along with other big names — he stuck with what he said before the major.

Mal Fairclough/AFP

“At most golf courses, for par to be the winning score, the best player in the field to shoot par, the level of punishment for poor golf is not fair,” he said. “Basically, you can’t play unless you’re playing amazing. The balance got just wrong.”

That balance, he explained, is getting the conditions to a “playable” place, and not beyond that to the point where it’s “silly” or “crazy.”

The Australian star is conscious of trying to make sure the game of golf is promoted the right way — he told me earlier in this interview that he’s more than okay with galleries shouting weird phrases at golfers after they’ve hit their shots. The U.S. Open, he said, is an opportunity to further push the game.

“I just think generally we need to promote the game in the best way,” he explained, “and that seems to be what the USGA talks about the other 51 weeks of the year except when you go to Oakmont and crazy stuff is going on, the guy’s getting penalized for his ball rocking on the green, but the green is like glass. It’s just got to be a little more consistent. If they want to promote golf, they’ve got an amazing stage to do it at the U.S. Open, let’s do it in the best way possible.”

His ultimate take?

“It’s a generalization that when you get 4- to 10-under, there’s a really good test of golf going on,” he added. “There’s got to be some kind of playability, it’s been getting a little crazy. I’m being critical, but it’s what I’ve seen.”